Daviot Kelly, Staff reporter

Kelly

There is a saying, common sense is not that common. Boy, do I agree!

There's nothing quite as annoying as seeing the blank expression on somebody's face because they just don't get it.

Case in point, I went to a fast-food outlet and asked for spring water to go with my food. The cashier told me they didn't have any, which I found strange.

Took something else

Anyway, I took something else and proceeded to the counter to collect my order. Lo and behold, sitting right in the fridge were bottles of water. I went back to the cashier and told her about the bottles of the particular brand of water in the fridge.

"But yu neva ask for that one, yu ask for spring water," came the reply. I came this close (ever sooo close) to saying, "ALL a dem (different brands) a nuh spring water, dufus!", but with some effort, I merely asked how much it cost.

To make matters worse, she then believed I wanted one in addition to the drink I already had. I had to then explain that I preferred the water (hence, why I had asked for it before any other beverage) and painstakingly got it replaced. Okay, so while I can see that she might not have understood swapping the water for the drink (which hadn't been poured yet anyway), why was explaining the difference between spring water and that particular brand of, well, spring water, so difficult? Not nuclear physics, I think, but maybe I was just having an intelligent day, or she, an off day.

'Dark like midnight'

We all say and do dumb things and there are many workers who serve you, the consumer, having an outstanding knowledge of their products and how to treat a customer. Also, there are some customers who are just plain 'dark like midnight', while others are tremendously impatient and fussy. These individuals will be a pain for anybody to deal with, especially an inexperienced store clerk.

But too many businesses have persons not so 'bright' dealing directly with the customers. These business owners will be asking for trouble because either persons are going to get really upset and ask for their money back, or they'll just not bother using those establishments to get what they need.

And this has nothing to do with the eloquence or education level of the worker. Some of the most verbose of speakers don't say a blooming thing that's noteworthy. But understanding simple concepts shouldn't take such a long time to figure out.

If I were a real coot, I would have gone back to the outlet five minutes later and asked for a spring water. Now, that would have been fun! Later.

Serve me a spring water at: daviot.kelly@gleanerjm.com.